March 6, 2005

BOSTON -
by Mark Pratt, Associated Press

Peter Trovato keeps the list of names above the computer in his Amherst apartment.

Ashley, Marcus, Matthew, Katie - and more than a dozen others - are a reminder of why he spends so much effort helping people he doesn't know, and in many cases has never met, while balancing a demanding academic schedule and the commitment of being a Division I college hockey player.

Trovato is the founder of the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund, a charitable endowment which aims to provide college scholarship money to the children of Bay State military personnel who have died in Iraq or Afghanistan. The money is in addition to any educational benefits they already get from the state and federal governments.

At least 30 Massachusetts residents have died so far in the war on terror, leaving behind more than 20 children, from infants to teenagers, whose names he sees each day.

"When I get tired, I just look up there at the list and it keeps me going," said Trovato, a senior at the University of Massachusetts.

Each name is a reminder of a family torn apart, of another child who will never see a parent again, and in at least one case, a child who will never even meet his father.

"There are some very sad stories," Trovato said. "One guy was sent to Iraq in October and his son was born in November. All he ever saw of his son were pictures, and his son will never meet his father."

Trovato is one of five finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, presented annually by a private foundation to "college hockey's finest citizen." Any collegiate hockey player in any NCAA division is eligible for the award, which will be presented April 8 during the men's Frozen Four in Columbus, Ohio.

Trovato got the idea for the fund last summer while working as a legislative intern for state Rep. Michael F. Rush, D-Boston. One of his jobs was to keep the lawmaker abreast of the news. "I kept reading about these Massachusetts soldiers who had given their lives in either Iraq or Afghanistan, leaving behind wives and children, and I was like "What can I do?'" Trovato said.

But setting up a charitable foundation is not easy. It involves lawyers and accountants and advisers and the Internal Revenue Service.

With advice from Rob Hale, the chief executive of Granite Telecommunications, the Quincy company where Trovato also interned last summer, and legal help from Beverly attorney David Fisette, the fund got its IRS taxpayer's ID number on Dec. 1, which allowed it to start raising money.

Hale had his reservations when Trovato talked about establishing the fund. "My immediate reaction was that it's an awful lot of work," Hale said. "Then I talked to him about it and the more I listened to Peter the more it became apparent that he was capable of pulling it off and was willing to shoulder the load."

In three months, the fund has raised $50,000. Trovato's goal is to raise $1 million.

"We are barely scratching the surface of what we can raise," said Hale, who is also a trustee of the foundation. "What we have raised so far is mostly by word of mouth, led by a college kid. We are putting the finishing touches on our marketing materials and are going to aggressively solicit foundations and businesses for contributions."

Rush has no doubt the fund will be a success.

"If you know Peter, he's full of energy, and when he comes up with an idea he's full speed ahead,'' said Rush, who was a teacher at Catholic Memorial High School in Boston when Trovato was a student there, and a member of three state championship hockey teams.

Trovato had a full plate before starting the soldiers fund. He has a 3.6 grade point average with a double major in political science and journalism in the university's Commonwealth College honors program. Playing hockey at the Division 1 level also means three-hour practices during the season and long road trips that this season have taken Trovato from Anchorage, Alaska to Orono, Maine.

He also tutors at-risk high school students, as well as his own teammates; he volunteers at a Northampton homeless shelter with other members of the team; and he is a Big Brother.

And, he notes with a chuckle, he has a girlfriend and a dog who deserve his attention as well.

"It's a tough balancing act, I'm not going to lie," he said. "Sometimes you drop the balls, but you just have to pick them up again and carry on."

Hard work is a lesson the North Attleboro native learned from his father, Paul, a high school history teacher and track coach, and his mother, Mary, a nurse.

"I saw how my parents made sacrifices for me and my brother in our hockey careers, so that's been the example for me," he said. Trovato's brother, Chris, is a freshman at Holy Cross where he also plays hockey.

The fund has trustees, but Trovato still does much of the work from his apartment. He sends e-mails soliciting donations and he writes letters to surviving parents, letting them know that their children are eligible for the fund.

The Pentagon will not provide addresses for surviving spouses, so Trovato tracks down addresses and telephone numbers himself.

"College is so far off to some of these people who have young children, it is something that they are not even thinking about yet," he said.

Although the fund has received a couple of large gifts - including $22,000 from Hale - most of the contributions have been small, a few dollars donated by UMass hockey fans at the Minutemen's home games and the proceeds of change jars set up in his teammates' dorm rooms.

UMass coach Don Cahoon saw plenty of overachieving students-athletes while coaching at Princeton from 1991 to 2000. Trovato, a three-time Hockey East Academic All-Star, measures up to the best he saw at the Ivy League school.

"He's a remarkable kid with great energy and great focus," Cahoon said.

"He's created a consciousness in his teammates about doing this kind of work and making a difference in the community, and that is probably what is most fulfilling for me to see."

Helping the families of soldiers is important to Trovato, because he almost became a soldier himself. He was accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

Instead, he did spent a year after high school at Deerfield Academy before accepting a hockey scholarship to UMass. "I didn't go to West Point because I wasn't totally committed, and I think you have to be," he said.

Trovato is not sure what he will do for work upon graduation, but he knows the soldiers fund will keep him occupied for years.

"After I'm done at UMass, this is going to go on, probably for the rest of my life," he said. "One day I hope I can go to a high school graduation for one of these kids knowing that they are going to college and I had something to do with that."